1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to carrying cases for portable computers and, more particularly, to carrying cases for portable computers wherein the computers are protected against damage from impacts.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Portable computers such as laptop or notebook computers have become increasingly popular due to their transportability, allowing such computers to be used in various places during and/or following transport. To enhance transportability, portable computers are typically designed to minimize size and weight and, therefore, do not usually include excess room for accommodating shock or impact absorbing materials or structure to protect sensitive components of the computers against damage from impacts. As a result, portable computers are vulnerable to damage if dropped, bumped against other objects or otherwise jarred or impacted, as often occurs during transport.
Carrying cases have been proposed for portable computers incorporating foam padding or other structure to protect the computers against damage from impacts. Exemplary carrying cases for portable computers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,988 to Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,001 to Marceau, U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,119 to Hollingsworth, U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,157 to Golenz et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,754 to Hollingsworth, U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,262 to Sadow, U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,035 to Kim, U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,223 to Cunningham, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,329 to Sadow, U.S. Pat. No. 5,762,170 to Shyr et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,497 to Krulik, U.S. Pat. No. 5,819,942 to Sadow, U.S. Pat. No. 5,909,806 to Fischel et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,270 to Shyr, and European Patent No. 0 797 939 A2.
Some carrying cases for portable computers include protective slings therein forming computer receiving compartments for receiving a portable computer. Such slings are typically formed by opposed walls that are spaced from one another at their top ends and connected to one another at their bottom ends to form a closed base upon which a portable computer is supported. One of the walls is typically pivotable about its bottom end toward the opposed wall to allow the computer to be closely held between the opposed walls. Since the pivotable wall cannot move in its entirety relative to the opposed wall, the computer receiving compartment may be much smaller in width at its bottom than at its top. Accordingly, a computer received in the computer receiving compartment may be too tightly held at the bottom of the compartment and too loosely held at the top of the compartment, thereby possibly damaging the computer or rendering it susceptible to damage from impacts.
In many carrying cases, the structure defining the computer receiving compartment is disposed within a larger storage compartment with the base or bottom of the computer receiving compartment spaced from a bottom wall of the storage compartment. When the storage compartment is used to store objects or items, such as computer accessories, documents, personal effects, etc., such items may enter the vacant space beneath the computer receiving compartment and may thusly be difficult to subsequently locate, access and retrieve.
Conventional carrying cases for portable computers are typically provided with handles for being manually grasped in order to pick up and carry the carrying cases as illustrated by the patents cited above. Various other handles have been proposed for use on carrying cases, luggage, bags, boxes and the like as represented by U.S. Pat. No. Des. 188,582 to Koffler, U.S. Pat. No. 1,374,126 to Walter, U.S. Pat. No. 2,800,940 to Riesebeck, U.S. Pat. No. 2,908,362 to Burtchaell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,913,080 to Louik et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,023,868 to Koffler, U.S. Pat. No. 3,115,229 to Erhard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,973 to Bush, U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,317 to Schwarzkoph, U.S. Pat. No. 3,531,822 to Bush, U.S. Pat. No. 3,656,594 to Marks et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,155 to Laurita, U.S. Pat. No. 3,813,729 to Szabo et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,140 to Franges, U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,033 to Simson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,261,078 to Edwards et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,990 to Seynhaeve, U.S. Pat. No. 4,364,150 to Remington, U.S. Pat. No. 4,514,876 to Houlberg, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,883 to Irani et al.
Many handles used on carrying cases for portable computers are formed of pivotable handle portions that do not tend to stay in an upstanding position when the carrying case is set down in an upright position on a support surface. Rather, the handle portions tend to pivot downwardly toward the carrying case of their own accord. Accordingly, each time such a handle is to be grasped, the handle portions thereof must first be manually pivoted to the upstanding position. This can prove to be very annoying and time consuming for the user, particularly where the carrying case must be set down and picked up numerous times. A further disadvantage of such handles is that the handle portions, when pivotally moved to the upstanding position, and manually grasped together with a single hand, present conspicuous seams, separations or hard edges that are felt by the hand and result in discomfort. Also, conventional handles for carrying cases for portable computers do not effectively distribute weight over the underside of the hand and/or tend to exert undesired pressure on the outer sides of the index and pinkie fingers.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of prior art carrying cases for portable computers.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a carrying case for a portable computer wherein a compartment is defined in the carrying case between a wall surface and a floating panel that is movable linearly toward and away from the wall surface to adjust the size of the compartment.
A further object of the present invention is to retain a portable computer in a compartment defined in a carrying case between a wall surface and a floating panel that is movable, in its entirety, toward and away from the wall surface to provide a compartment of adjustable width.
It is also an object of the present invention to permit adjustment of both the width of a computer receiving compartment and the width of a storage compartment of a carrying case for a portable computer via linear movement of a floating panel of the carrying case.
The present invention also has as an object to provide a carrying case for a portable computer with a floating panel that is linearly movable relative to a wall surface of the carrying case to hold a computer therebetween and is resiliently biased toward the wall surface to provide an impact absorbing effect for the computer.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a carrying case for a portable computer with a handle made up of pivotable handle portions tending to remain in an upstanding, engaged position when the carrying case is supported in an upright position on a support surface.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a carrying case for a portable computer with a handle made up of handle portions that are pivotally movable to an engaged position providing a smooth, seamless feel for a hand grasping the handle.
A still further object of the present invention is to enhance the comfort experienced by the hand of a user when grasping a handle of a carrying case for a portable computer.
Some of the advantages of the present invention are that the carrying case can contain various shock or impact absorbing mechanisms, no vacant space is present between the computer and the bottom wall of the carrying case, the storage compartment does not include any difficult to access areas, the openings for the computer receiving compartment and the storage compartment have separate, independently operable closures, respectively, the wall surface and a surface of the floating panel facing into the computer receiving compartment are padded to protect the portable computer, a top restraint is provided at a top of the computer receiving compartment to resiliently bias the computer toward the bottom wall and provide a shock or impact absorbing effect, and various storage pockets can be provided on the floating panel and/or on other walls of the carrying case.
These and other objects, advantages and benefits are realized with the present invention as generally characterized in a carrying case for a portable computer, the carrying case having a back wall and a front wall connected to one another by a top wall, a bottom wall and a pair of side walls define an interior. A compartment for receiving a portable computer or other delicate electronic equipment is defined in the interior between a wall surface and a floating panel of the carrying case. The floating panel is selectively movable linearly toward and away from the wall surface to allow the size of the compartment to be adjusted in accordance with the size of the computer or other electronic equipment received therein. The carrying case includes a securing mechanism in the interior for resiliently biasing the floating panel toward the wall surface, allowing the computer or other electronic equipment to be gently, compressively held between the wall surface and the floating panel. The securing mechanism includes a securing member releasably connected between the wall surface and the floating panel, with the securing member being capable of stretching to effect absorption of shock or impact that would otherwise be experienced by the computer or other electronic equipment. The carrying case also includes a shock or impact absorbing mechanism which may comprise a pair of compressible side bumpers at opposite sides of the compartment and at least one compressible bottom bumper at the bottom of the compartment. The side bumpers extend in the same direction as the side walls such that the computer or other electronic equipment received in the compartment is disposed between the side bumpers. The bottom bumper extends in the same direction as the bottom wall such that the computer or other electronic equipment received in the compartment is supported thereon when the carrying case is in an upright position. The bumpers are capable of compressing to absorb shock or impact that would otherwise be experienced by the computer or other electronic equipment. The carrying case has a top restraint for resiliently biasing the computer or other electronic equipment toward the bottom wall and includes a restraining member releasably connected between the wall surface and the floating panel at a top end of the compartment. The restraining member is capable of stretching to absorb shock or impact that would otherwise be experienced by the computer or other electronic equipment.
A handle for the carrying case includes first and second handle portions mounted to the top wall and including arcuate segments, respectively, rotatable relative to the top wall. The arcuate segments are rotatable between an engaged position, wherein the arcuate segments are in abutment for being grasped together with one hand, and a disengaged position, wherein the arcuate segments are separated from one another. The arcuate segments include inner surfaces, respectively, configured to mate when the arcuate segments are rotated to the engaged position, the inner surface of the first handle portion being configured as a protuberance and the inner surface of the second handle portion being configured as a cavity for receiving the protuberance. Also, the arcuate segments include upper transition surfaces, respectively, from which the inner surfaces extend, and the upper transition surfaces are in abutment in the engaged position. In a preferred embodiment for the handle, the outer surface of the first handle portion is completed by an outer surface of the second handle portion in the engaged position, and no seams or other discontinuous surfaces are presented along a bottom surface of the handle that bears against the hand when the carrying case is picked up and carried via the handle.